Sunday, 15 February 2015

January /February is the time to get your bird boxes up. We've already put up one new owl box and myself and Steve Carter after a bit of modification managed to get the second box up on an old concrete post (I think this one is more like a kestrel box). It's a bit close to the house but we have a Kestrel hunting quite regularly close by so you never know "fingers crossed".

our kestrel box on an old concrete lampost

kestrel taken hunting near where the box is sighted

I've also made a few different smaller bird boxes to go with the one's we already have. This will extend our box colony and increase our chances as well as the birds for success this coming breeding season.

boxes for redstart with the square hole cut out and a tit box with the round hole

boxes with a bit of stain on them

I was out early this morning putting them up around the place.

open fronted box

round hole tit box with a protective steel piece around the hole

redstart box but nuthatches and tits have been known to nest in these as well

I've also had a go at making a wheatear box, these birds are early spring visitors, they usually nest amongst craggy rocks and in stone walls their nests usually is beneath the ground or into bankings. These are just an experiment to hopefully attract a pair, if anyone has any suggestions on sighting these or how to make them better than mine I'd be very grateful for the input.

wheatear box

wheatear box sighted amongst some craggy rocks

wheatear taken near the house last summer

So I have been busy over the last week or two making my boxes and finally having time to site them. Here's some of the bird species that will hopefully nest in the boxes.

robin (open fronted nest box)

wren (square or round hole box)

blue tit (round hole box)

nuthatch (square or round hole box)

redstart (square hole box)

blackbird (open fronted box)

coal tit (round hole box)

Well they've got plenty to choose from so lets hope for a good breeding season.